How to plant rose seeds? A detailed guide to the planting method

The rose is one of China's ten traditional famous flowers, and also one of the world's four major cut flowers, long known by the beautiful title “Queen of Flowers”. Many flower-loving friends buy some rose seeds to plant in their own courtyards, so how do you plant rose seeds?

1. How to plant rose seeds

First put them in the sun to dry for a while, then place the rose seeds in cold water to soak for 4-6 hours, remove the seeds; soaked seeds sprout more easily. Wrap them well in gauze and put them in a clothes pocket for 24 hours, then scatter them over the soil, cover with a thin layer of fine soil, and water with tap water that has been left standing for 24 hours. In summer water once every 7 days, in winter once a month, and wait for them to sprout.

2. Propagation methods of roses

Roses are mainly propagated by division, and can also be propagated by layering and cuttings.

1. Division propagation

One year before division, apply plenty of fertilizer near the base of the mother plant and water it, while keeping the soil loose and moist to encourage a large number of shoots from the roots. Because roses have a very strong tillering ability, after each new branch grows the mother branch easily withers, so the tender shoots near the base must be transplanted elsewhere in time so the mother branch can still grow vigorously. Therefore, every year in November to December, after the plant loses its leaves, or in February of the following year when the buds just begin to sprout, you can dig out strong new plants growing beside the mother plant from the large clump, each clump with 2-3 stems, and plant them with roots. After planting, cut the stem back at 20-25cm above the soil surface, and after 2-3 years of cultivation they will form a clump and bloom.

2. Layering propagation

In the plum rain season from June to August each year, choose a strong branch of the current year's growth, bend it into the soil, cut a wound on the part going into the soil and insert a clod of soil into the wound, bury it in the soil, fix it with a bamboo fork or tree fork, and let the branch tip remain above ground. Keep the soil moist, and roots will form in 2-3 months. The following spring it can be separated from the mother plant and planted elsewhere.

3. Cutting propagation

In early spring before sprouting, select healthy 1-year-old branches free of pests and diseases, cut them into cuttings about 20cm long, and insert them at an angle into a cutting bed made of fresh river sand to a depth of 12-14cm. After firming down, water them, and always keep the sand bed warm; roots form in about 30 days, and after sprouting they can be transplanted. Cuttings in a sand bed heal and root fairly easily, but they need to be taken indoors in a sunny place or in a field under an arched plastic tunnel, and the management work must be careful. Softwood cuttings are usually taken during the plum rain season: take half-matured branches and cut a section about 20cm long from the middle-lower part as the cutting, with 2-3 nodes and buds on it, insert it at an angle into the soil, firm it down and water it, and transplant after it roots and sprouts; hardwood cuttings are mostly taken during the growing season from September to November.